


Concern

by arochill



Series: Linked Universe Fics [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21586747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arochill/pseuds/arochill
Summary: They all knew that something happened for Twilight to be so scared for Time all the time. Being in Twilight’s village gave them some insight to it.Time wished he didn’t understand.
Relationships: Time & Twilight (Linked Universe)
Series: Linked Universe Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555819
Comments: 5
Kudos: 238
Collections: The Bard's Roost





	Concern

It scared Twilight that at any moment he could see Time die right in front of him. Even on the calmest of days he could look to his mentor and all he was able to see with the Stalfos who taught him to be the hero he is today. Time, despite how close the two of them had grown, had no idea of the kind of things that Twilight knew would end up befalling him in his future. It left a Twilight terrified that any battle could be Time’s last, it left him constantly watching his mentor in order to make sure the older man was safe and  _ alive. _

It didn’t seem to occur to Twilight that his constant monitoring of Time was easy to spot even when he tried his hardest to hide it. And it wasn’t just Time who was able to see it,  _ everyone  _ could.

But they all kept quiet about it under Time’s orders, letting Twilight choose to talk about why he was so scared for Time at his own pace. Despite this, however, it didn’t take long for something to happen that left them no choice but to talk about it.

A choice encounter with Twilight’s Hyrule wasn’t all too strange. At that point, switching worlds to one another’s home was the norm. That wasn’t the problem. But when they ended up in Twilights  _ village,  _ everyone was a little bit excited to learn more about one of their more secretive companions.

It was there that they all heard about the golden wolf that had hung around the village for a very long time that had vanished at the same time of Twilight’s disappearance. It wasn’t just the colour that caught the groups attention, however. It was their description of the scar on the right side of the wolf’s face and the fact that whenever the villagers tried to bring it up with Twilight he always shut down. But they all knew that it was real, as Twilight kept drawings upon drawings on him of the very same wolf, even if he thought that none of the villagers knew of it.

None of them had been trying to get themselves caught up in Twilight’s business but before they knew it they were already being told the kind of things that Twilight would have never wanted to share on his own. And none of them could bring themselves to ask the villagers to stop, however invasive they felt by the end of it.

Time most of all felt the worst about it. But even he couldn’t stop himself the moment that he heard about the wolf with the scar in the  _ exact same  _ spot as his own that had disappeared along with Twilight. He needed to know more. He  _ wanted  _ to know more about his pup, even if that information came from the mouths of strangers.

Twilight hadn’t been around them for a while, having opted to let them explore to their hearts content whilst he went into the forest. Wild had asked to join him, and Twilight found himself not as apprehensive as he usually would be with the question, letting the younger boy follow him.

The forest was empty, as always, the gate to the Twilight Realm closed as it had been since he had left. There was no close by sounds of a wolf treading across the forest floor, no sound of a stalfos watching from close by.

Twilight couldn’t bring himself to be surprised, but still Wild kept close by and kept looking at him almost worriedly. Twilight wasn’t completely sure how long he was there, wandering the forest and comparing it to the same place he had transversed a few years prior.

Eventually the feeling of Wild watching him grew uncomfortable. He asked, carefully, if the boy wouldn’t mind heading back to the village ahead of him. Wild had hesitated, but agreed quicker than Twilight thought he would. It took only a few moments for the younger boy to disappear out of sight back to the village.

Twilight breathed in air, staring up at the canopy above him, and he closed his eyes and let his body shift.

It almost felt wrong to be in his wolf form when he was so close to where the entrance to the Twilight Realm had once been. But it also felt so, so very right. He could almost feel a familiar weight on his back as he stood there, waiting for something,  _ someone,  _ that he knew would never come.

He let his mind wander, back to a red eye and golden fur, to a skeleton in ruins covered in armour. To a familiar, proud voice that taught him so much of what he knew. To a familiar, proud person who knew nothing of what he was going to become.

Twilight walked around the area, talking quietly with the animals that came out of hiding when he came passed, until his legs were beginning to get tired and being in wolf form began to hurt. Still, even when he turned back he remained there for a few more minutes just breathing in his environment.

He was preparing to head back to the village when he heard the crumple of leaves behind him and spun around with his hand at the hilt of his sword. For a moment he saw nothing, then he saw red eyes and froze.

He was frozen for a moment too long. The Staflos was  _ fast _ and Twilight, for that moment, was trapped in a memory of a teacher who was long since gone and yet, still there. The Stalfos was holding a sharp, glinting blade, and all Twilight could do, with no time to pull out his shield to protect himself, was take a step back and block the attack with his arm so it didn’t piece right through his chest.

The pain shot through him but Twilight was already moving, pulling his sword out completely and fighting back with his now only working, and thankfully  _ main,  _ arm. Despite the amount of blood that was flowing from his arm at that point Twilight didn’t let up, pushing the Stalfos back with a scream and watching as it fell into pieces in front of him.

And not a second later he followed suit and collapsed to the ground, letting his sword fall to the ground in order to use that hand to try and hold back as much of the blood flow as he possibly could. It wasn’t enough. The fact that he had used his arm as a shield was more than enough to tell him there was no way his arm was going to turn out alright. The blade had gone through his arm was such extreme ease and precision and there was no way for him to seal up such a huge wound without the use of multiple fairies which he didn’t even have  _ one  _ of.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to the village before he bled out.

He looked to the armour of the Stalfos and let himself imagine it was someone else. He let himself imagine it was Time as the blood loss grew drastic and his vision began to blur and darken.

He choked on his own words, the words he believed to be his last, “Thank you, Hero ofTime… thank you… Link.”

Wild had been quiet upon returning, a concerned look stuck on his face that he couldn’t quite seem to get rid of no matter how hard he tried.

The villagers had long since run out of tales to regale them all with and Time had disappeared to go and set up camp– at least that is what he had  _ told  _ them. So when they finally pushed Wild enough to get him to admit to being concerned for  _ Twilight  _ of all people, they couldn’t help but be concerned and go looking for their most prominent leader.

Said leader had been wandering the pastures, humming a soft tune as he walked passed a few horses, letting his mind sink into what he had been told about his protege and about that golden wolf.

He didn’t want to go through the kids stuff for the drawings, no matter how curious he was, but he thought it was too similar of a description, especially when he knew that Twilight was able to turn into a wolf himself. Even then, he knew that he needed to talk Twilight about it. He wasn’t about to keep back what he had been told, he wasn’t going to lie that he hadn’t learnt anything in his absence. He trusted Twilight and he wanted to make sure that the younger man knew he could trust Time as well.

His thoughts remaining on Twilight didn’t help when the rest of his companions arrived and Wild explained his concern and how he believed that Time would be the best at helping with this. He was off into the forest with Wild at his side directing him almost immediately.

They could smell blood miles away even without Twilight’s superior sense of smell. And they  _ ran.  _ They ran through the thicket and the bushes and it didn’t take more than five minutes to reach the source of the smell and Wild’s scream was horrified when they saw Twilight. Time had to hold back the vomit that built up and he forced himself to move fast, running over to who was no less than his kid.

He was there just in time to hear Twilight’s words.

“Thank you, Hero ofTime… thank you… Link.”

And then Twilight was gone to the world, eyes shut, and Time pulled out a pack of bandages and Wild was behind him hastily pulling out his Sheikah Slate. He could hear the fairies that Wild pulled from the slate more than he could see them as Time did all he could to stop the bleeding from continuing as bad as it already had.

The fairies were bright pink and they fluttered around Twilights body and Time could feel the wetness on his cheeks and he could hear the words of panic that were leaving his mouth but all he could see was Twilight with pale skin covered in blood, thanking him as he died.

He didn’t know how long he sat there at Twilight’s side, hoping and praying to all the Goddesses he could think of that the boy would live. All he could do was wait, all he could do was let the fairies do all they could to save him. The tears wouldn’t stop.

There was a Stalfos in front of him, holding up a familiar sword and giving off such a comforting presence that Twilight relaxed immediately. Twilight knew who it was without even needing to look at him for very long. He knew the face, he knew that eye, he knew that armour. He knew the Hero of Time.

“I’m dead.” Twilight said, and he sounded much calmer than he thought he could be.

Despite the fact he had no skin, Twilight could see the flinch that ran through Time’s body.

“You are.” The man responded, and Twilight inhaled deeply and ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Time said and Twilight could do no more than close his eyes, shaking his head.

“You really are the same person, aren’t you.” Twilight whispered, “I had hoped…”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Time repeated. And there was a hand on his shoulder and Twilight opened his eyes and looked into the eyes of his mentor and the same face he had been looking at not even an hour ago before he had headed into the woods.

Time looked like he was in pain, like he was looking at something that had brought upon him a lifetime of horror. It left Twilight feeling, in some ways, as if he had done something wrong.

But another, much larger part of him, couldn’t feel anything.

_ He was dead. _

And right in front of him was the Hero’s Shade, was  _ Time,  _ who he had known would die long before he properly knew the man. And Twilight finally let himself think to himself that maybe he had done something to cause that death, if he had lead the man into an ambush by disappearing into the forest as he had. And the numbness that he felt cracked and drowned him. He could feel the tears on his cheeks. Time reached forwards and pulled him close to him, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. Twilight closed his eyes tight and tried so hard to think of the positives of being dead.

_ “I’m sorry I took so long.” _

And his eyes snapped open and the Hero’s Shade’s armour in front of him was replaced by a different set of armour and without even looking Twilight could tell the man was  _ alive. _

He didn’t even think twice before pushing himself up from the ground and throwing himself at the man, wrapping him in his arms and shaking with the tears that all of a sudden he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

He wasn’t told to stop, he wasn’t told to be gentle with his fresh injuries, instead Time wrapped his arms back around him tightly. And Twilight could feel the wetness on his shoulder and knew the man was crying just as much of him.

It scared Twilight that at any point in time he could look to Time and all he could see would be a Staflos who would teach him how to be a hero. But he knew that for the time being he had Time at his side, and for as long as he could, he would make sure the man was safe.

It scared Time that at any point in time he could lose Twilight for more than a few minutes and would lose the chance to see the man learn to be the leader Time knew he could be. But he would keep an eye on him and do all in his power to keep him safe. He got it now why Twilight was always so paranoid with his safety and he would let Twilight take his time in telling him anything more of his past, because now he understood.

He  _ understood. _

**Author's Note:**

> whoops.


End file.
